EPA sits back while North Carolinians are “forced to breath” asbestos for seven months

What a month. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued two reports. On Monday, the EPA OIB issued the report revealing that“Asbestos in Schools Not a Top Priority for EPA.” The next day, the EPA OIG published the second report revealing that it took seven months for North Carolina officials to contact the EPA after asbestos was identified at a hospital demolition site.

This gross negligence left residents of Statesville, a small Charlotte suburb, feeling like they “were forced to breathe in dangerous asbestos particles for months.”

While the report states that “individuals near the demolition site were at risk of asbestos exposure,” those familiar with asbestos exposure patterns know that passersby were not the only ones endangered. Every member of the construction crew was subjected to continuous, daily exposure. They potentially carried asbestos particles home with them on articles of clothing, further exposing their children and families….